Health-care costs, labour unrest, education funding and the struggle to exert influence in Ottawa — I reported on these stories extensively as I began to cover the Alberta legislature for CBC Edmonton in 2000, and they remain top of the public agenda some 20 years later.
The differences are the faces of influential politicians and the means used to shape their messages.
As of Jan.1, I take on a new challenge as the CBC/Radio-Canada branch president of the Canadian Media Guild. It’s a full-time job representing CBC/Radio-Canada unionized employees across Canada.
I leave behind a big stack of reporter notebooks at the Alberta legislature press gallery office, and drawers full of memories and anecdotes. With that in mind, here’s a snapshot of a few of the events and people I remember most.
Memorable people
There were many memories made over the last two decades, but there are some people whose actions or presence I’ll remember most vividly (in no particular order).
Members of the Alberta legislature press gallery photographed with Ralph Klein during his last days in office. (Government of Alberta)
Ralph Klein: A former Progressive Conservative premier and political leader who was pushed out by his own party, Klein retired the debt in 2004 but failed to deliver an encore.
In 2006, PC party members came to Calgary in huge numbers to vote on Klein’s leadership. With blue inflatable clackers in hand, the party gave Klein a standing ovation as he entered the hall to give his address. But the crowd voted against their man and sent him packing.
Klein’s departure caused the PCs to flounder for the next 12 years as the party looked for a solid replacement and agenda. He died in 2013 at the age of 70.
Pam Barrett: Feisty and memorable, Barrett led the two-seat NDP from 1997 until 2000, forging a close relationship with Klein while holding him to account. It was Barrett who walked Klein into the legislative chamber for his final question period in 2006. Memorable too, was the way Barrett departed public life: she announced her resignation as party leader at a hastily called news conference Feb 3, 2000. Barrett declared her decision was prompted by a near-death experience while in a dentist’s chair. Her dentist was also at the news conference. Barrett was 54 when she died of cancer in 2008.
As Alberta’s first female premier, Alison Redford made headlines when she resigned from her post after months of controversy. (CBC)
Alison Redford: Considered a red Tory, Redford was remarkable for being the unlikely winner of the PC leadership race in 2011 only to fail to win support from her caucus and the public. She was dogged by controversial policy decisions and spending scandals.
As remarkable and memorable as her swearing-in in the rotunda of the legislature was in October 2011, so too was the day she resigned in March 2014 — in the very same spot she made history as Alberta’s first female premier.
Brian Mason: A jolly politician with a folksy style, Mason ascended from Edmonton city council to provincial NDP leader and later a cabinet minister in Rachel Notley’s government. He bridged the divide between the NDP government and testy rural politicians. It was under Mason’s leadership in opposition, however, that the scrappy NDP consistently punched above its weight and attracted media attention for almost everything it did. Mason also produced the best spoof videos the NDP ever made.
Rachel Notley and Jason Kenney: The stories of these two politicians are still unfolding. Notley achieved the unbelievable feat of annihilating the once-mighty PC dynasty in 2015, only to lose power four years later.
She now leads the Official Opposition and appears poised to take another run at Kenney in the next provincial election.
A former federal cabinet minister under then-prime minister Stephen Harper, Kenney shocked the Alberta political establishment in 2016 by steamrolling into the PC leadership race. In 2017, he united the PCs and Wildrose under a new banner, the United Conservative Party.
I remember thinking at the time that rank-and-file PCs didn’t really see him coming.
Kenney outplayed them all in a political game they should have been prepared for. At the PC convention in Red Deer, he bused in youth supporters and stacked influential committees with his own people while Harper held court in a side room, edging votes Kenney’s way.
Elected premier in April 2019, Kenney is sticking to the economic plan he was elected on, even though polls suggest many Albertans aren’t happy with the path he’s taking.
Remarkable turns
Social media wasn’t even a thing in 2000, but in politics now, it’s everything.
In the early days, TV reporters were assigned one story and had to meet a 6 p.m. deadline. The entire day was spent setting up interviews, being in neighbourhoods, or on a stakeout with a camera operator.
Today, reporters juggle numerous assignments, filing for web, radio and TV, taking photos, shooting video and yes — appearing on TV and on radio. Interspersed with all of that is a prerequisite that one eye always be kept on social media.
Social media is a political specialty that has evolved from a casual amusement to an integral part of politics and political coverage. Just consider the impact of a single tweet from U.S. President Donald Trump.
When your time is done, it’s done
Very few political leaders have clawed their way back once the party decides it’s time for a change.
Although he served as premier from 2006 until 2011, it appeared Ed Stelmach, the affable farmer from Andrew, Alta., didn’t sit well with his party establishment in Calgary. Alberta’s first premier of Ukrainian descent, Stelmach brought in a lobbyist registry and conducted a royalty review — considered almost blasphemous in some conservative circles.
He won another majority government for the reigning PC party — but the rumbling continued. After the Christmas break in 2010, Stelmach suddenly announced his intention to resign.
Getting pushed out also happened to Ralph Klein and Alison Redford, and most recently to federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer. It doesn’t seem to really matter which party is doing the knifing, though I haven’t seen it play out in Alberta to anyone other than to those in the premier’s chair at the time.
Different governments, same challenges for reporters
There’s always a battle for public transparency and accountability, regardless of which party forms government.
It was no easier to file a freedom of information request under the NDP government than under the PCs or the UCP.
I secretly hoped the floodgates of information would open wide after the fall of the PC government, but that certainly wasn’t the case.
The NDP government had its own way of not telling reporters what was going on, and stuck to it. They were new at the job in 2015, but quickly figured out that consolidating their messaging and keeping reporters at bay were integral to running government.
It’s a trend that continues to tighten under the Kenney government, making it increasingly difficult for reporters to cut through the political spin.
As I prepare to start my new job, I remember fondly the many people I’ve met at the legislature, from the cleaners and cafeteria staff to maintenance workers, security personnel, office workers, journalists and legislators. Here’s hoping the next decade brings resolution to some of the stories I’ve covered over the past 20 years.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
